SHRINKING OF THE POLITICAL SPACE FOR SAFFRON OUTFIT SINCE 2014

Any organization which has the agenda of projecting religion will face the setback and decline. This has been amply proved through the General Elections held for the Legislative Assemblies in the States of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal in April 2016. Political organizations, without the ideological ingredients of rationalism, progressive thoughts and equality emphasis, will be sidelined by the people collectively. This is the ultimate message of the results of the General Elections which is vital to strengthen the democratic polity.

Without realizing this fact and deliberately avoiding a genuine attempt to find out the field level realities and their reflections, the saffron political outfit viz. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is claiming that the party is progressing and also distancing the political alternative at the national scene.

What do the results of the General Election reveal?

Uttar Pradesh : In Uttar Pradesh, the State which has got more vibrancy to decide the political destiny of the country, the BJP has been defeated in the bye elections held for the two constituencies of the Legislative Assembly. If one analyses the trend of the election results since 2015, it would be easier to conclude that the BJP has not grown and only the reverse is the reality.

Delhi : For the Delhi Municipal Corporation, bye-elections were held in May 2016 for 13 wards. Delhi Corporation election results assume significance, since it is the local body in the national capital of the country. Out of these 13 wards, earlier BJP had won in all the wards except in four. Now in the bye-election, AamAadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress Party have won each in 4 wards, leaving only 3 wards to BJP and the rest to the independent candidates. Is it not a setback to the BJP?

Tamil Nadu : In the General Assembly Elections 2016 held in Tamil Nadu, BJP and its allies have not won even in a single constituency out of the 232, for which elections were held. The pitiable affair is except in FOUR constituencies, in all the rest, the candidates of BJP and the allies forfeited their deposit including the State President of BJP. Even in the FOUR constituencies, the margin of vote, secured by the candidates is very thin so as to get back the deposit.

In the Parliamentary Elections 2014, BJP had won in only one constituency in Tamil Nadu. In the Assembly Elections 2016, the BJP is unable to retain its position in either of the Assembly Constituencies, covered under the Parliamentary Constituency.Is it growth for BJP or grinding down to dusk?

In certain Municipal Corporation centres like Chennai, Madurai, the BJP candidates have terribly lost by securing votes less than that of independents. The BJP leadership has claimed, when they have not won even in a single constituency, their vote bank has not come down. The vote share of BJP in Tamil Nadu is only 2.8 percent. Is it a matter of pride?

The front line leaders of Tamil Nadu BJP have been uttering libel statement against Periyar, the Father of Dravidian Movement, whose political off shoots have won the Assembly Elections to sit both in treasury and the opposition significantly.

In Tamil Nadu, no prominent political parties came forward to forge alliance with BJP in the Assembly Election. BJP has experienced ‘political untouchability’ in Tamil Nadu. BJP has to learn a lot in Tamil Nadu, the Land of Periyar.

The Position is Blank in the North Too!

West Bengal : In West Bengal, the ruling All India Trinamool Congress Party has won in 211 constituencies in the State Assembly Elections 2016. BJP had strategically used the name of the revolutionary leader, Netaji Subash Chandra Bose and his family heirs to capture the State power. Besides attacking TCP President Mamata Banerjee, BJP had projected that God has not liked the rule of Trinamool Congress by citing the fall down of the bridge in Kolkata. Corruption of Saradha and Sahara sting operations etc were highlighted by BJP. The electorate of West Bengal did not listen to BJP. They defeated the BJP in their State. The 16.8 per cent vote share, secured by BJP in Parliamentary Elections 2014 has declined to 9.0 percent in the Assembly Elections 2016 in West Bengal!

Assam : In Assam, out of the total Assembly Constituencies of 126, the ruling alliance has won BJP 60 seats, Assam Gana Parishad 14 and Bodoland People’s Front 12 seats. Of them, Bodoland People’s Front is a Naxalbari organization, Assam Gana Parishad is a predominant scheduled tribes Party which is against the Hindutva policy.

Under such circumstances, the BJP has to distance its ‘Agenda at Delhi’ to complete its 5 year ruling tenure in Assam. BJP can proclaim with pride at Delhi that their rule is of Saffron, but not so at Guwahati, Assam. If the Wave of BJP had prevailed in Assam, it should have won the Assembly Elections with absolute majority.

The Recent Election Results Depict the Descending Trend of the BJP:

A comparative particulars of votes, secured by BJP and its alliesin Parliamentary Elections 2014 and State Assemblies Elections 2016 would reveal its descending trend.

On the contrary, the vote share of the national level alternative i.e. the Congress Party has increased in between 2014 and 2016.

What do these details reveal? Definitely, People have started to reject the BJP. Here after, the political rule with the priority of religion will not be possible. Political parties devoid of rationalistic approach, progressive thoughts and emphasis on equality will be distanced by the electorate of the country.

It is the net reflection through the resultsof the recently concluded State Assemblies, local bodies and bye-elections. There is no empirical evidence to support the statement of the national leadership of the BJP that the party is on a growing path. No; definitely BJP is on the ascending decline!